Dodgers News: Clayton Kershaw ‘Didn’t Want to Go Out’ on 2023 NLDS Performance

Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers are together again. It’s a move that just about everyone around the organization wanted to see.

Despite his last outing — a disastrous Game 1 performance in last year’s NLDS — Kershaw still feels like he has a lot in the tank. That performance against the Arizona Diamondbacks is not the Kershaw the team saw for the entirety of the 2023 season, and Kershaw didn’t want that to be his lasting image in Major League Baseball or on the Dodgers.

“Didn’t want to go out that way,” Kershaw said. “I think that’s ultimately how I came to it. And then once we started gathering more information, realizing that surgery is probably the best option, it gave me a little bit of clarity with everything.”

via Dodgers Nation YouTube Channel

For the past couple of seasons, the rumors surrounding Kershaw have been retirement, the Dodgers, or the Texas Rangers — this offseason was no different. In the end, though, Kershaw chose the Dodgers, one of the reasons being he didn’t want his latest outing to be his last. The former National League MVP did not want Game 1 of the National League Division Series to be the last image of him, and it’s hard to blame him.

“I went home and the season, the way it ended especially for our team and for me personally, wasn’t fun at all. A lot of doubts, a lot of different things and just really had to sit back on, if I wanted to do this it became pretty evident that I had to fix it and get surgery.“

via Dodgers Nation YouTube Channel

The future Hall of Famer should be on a mission this year whenever he’s able to get back on the mound. He’ll be looking to help this loaded roster win the Dodgers’ second ring of the last four years.

Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

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